"It's Always Been About Creating Something Unique": Now A One Man Project, Shades Of Ripley Is Back With "Saturday"

Shades Of Ripley is back with uplifting track "Saturday" [photo: Shades Of Ripley]

Bands are much like comic book heroes. You might see them bow out with some epic fanfare finale, but are they really gone? Such is the case for Shades Of Ripley - disbanded in July 2024, released surprise comeback single "Blue & Gold" only a few months later. Now a one-man project, Shades is going full steam ahead with new track "Saturday".

I had the pleasure of talking to Tim Crane, the man behind the project, about the new track and the band's recent developments.

R: For anyone that isn't aware, it's been a little while since new Shades music. Can you explain the journey to where you are now with it?

T: Well the first thing is Shades is back! I released "Blue & Gold" back in December, which was the opening song from the live set, although I re-wrote a few bits and added the stupid guitar solo! There's always been a huge amount of material for Shades, but with the original incarnation of the band only meeting up every couple of weeks, there wasn't much time to build in new music, we'd just rehearse for the live shows. I moved house earlier in the year, it's given me the space to build a studio in the garden, all those ideas now have a place to live and become a tangible outlet for the project. 

Shades effectively stopped being a band late 2024, the other guys in the band wanted to focus on playing live and doing loads of gigs. That's totally cool for them but for me, I'd already done that in my late 20's - early 30's, I'd played things like Download, Warped Tour, big venues to big crowds, it was an odd concept to get my head around being an opener on a four band bill again.

I'd always written all the material and the band wanted to have a go at that too, which again is absolutely great, but I'd done a lot of collaborative writing in the past and always found that my contributions were undervalued or compromised . The other guys in Shades have now started a band called "Mutiny!", there's no bad blood or anything like that, they've put out a demo and are doing some good gigs, so I'm pleased that hopefully I've helped give those guys a springboard to do what they want to do with their music.

"I've definitely got a style, I'm not sure if it's right or good, but I absolutely love the whole process"

What made you want to use the Shades name again instead of something else?

I'd already taken a few of these songs out live, so I thought in terms of back catalogue, the most consistent thing to do was keep it all under the Shades banner. Plus on my [Distrokid] account, I'd already released stuff with "Without Danger", so I'd have to pay more to add another band name on to it! 

Your new track "Saturday" is out now. What's it about?

Saturday is about looking forward to whatever you do at the weekend. It's written about my love of Tranmere Rovers Football Club, but the sentiment can apply to whatever the listener wants. It's a song that's been written for the best part of 10 years, i just never had the means to finish it, until now. This song never made it to the live set in Shades, although a version of it was performed with "Without Danger", before that project was canned. 

"Saturday" is out now on streaming platforms [photo: Shades Of Ripley]

Who are your main influences when it comes to writing and recording?

Most of my big influences are 90's college rock or 2000's emo. I'd say bands like Weezer, Everclear, Midtown, Senses Fail, Alkaline Trio etc. When it comes to producing stuff I'd have to say someone like Butch Walker, his records always sound huge, I'm nowhere near that level, but I'd like to think I capture the big guitar textures and stacked vocal harmonies. I think you'll hear from the last 3 singles ("Secret Identity", "Blue & Gold", "Saturday"), I've definitely got a style, I'm not sure if its right or good, but I absolutely love the whole process.

"I never started to make music to make the scene, or make money, or get all the girls"

Will we see Shades gigs again in the future? Or is the focus more on writing and recording? 

Initially it's just about creating and releasing music. Even when I've been touring round in a successful band, I still struggled with the vanity of playing live. I never started to make music to make the scene, or make money, or get all the girls, for me its always been about creating something unique, if the side effect of that is people liking it and wanting to see Shades play live then I'm 100% cool with that and I'd make it happen!

There's a heap of new material coming, I'm hoping that 2025 will allow me to release 8-10 singles, I'm just going to flood the market and see what sticks, so hopefully a few more people stumble across the tracks!

"Saturday" is out NOW on streaming platforms